Guiding Light CAST - Gus Aitoro

Who played Gus Aitoro over the years

Ricky Paull Goldin (March 2001 - April 1, 2008)

Useful information on Gus Aitoro

* Lives with his wife Harley Cooper and her 2 sons.
* Served prison time for a murder he didn't commit when he took the fall for his sister, Eden August's actions.
* Covered up Alexandra's involvement in the Antmonius drug ring.
* Kidnapped Emma Spaulding to get her mother to return to Springfield.
* Married to Natalia Rivera.

GUS AITORO'S HISTORY

As an FBI agent, Gus was brought into Springfield to bring down the Santos Crime family. He was soon mixed up with Blake Marler, who had written a novel about them, and tried to unravel what she really knew. She eventually discovered Gus' true identity; he was the son of a cop killed by Miguel Santos. When this came out, combined with allegations of evidence tampering, his career was ruined. He stuck around town as a PI and got involved with Harley Cooper, who was carrying Rick's baby at the time. By a trick of fate, Gus ended up helping her deliver her baby and the two began a lengthy courtship which could only be consummated once Gus gave up his vendetta against Harley's friend Danny Santos.

The couple began facing numerous obstacles, Marina attempted to frame Gus for sex with a juvenile, Phillip and Frank tried to break them up by exposing Gus' criminal record. But they stuck together and, after Harley was shot on duty, he proposed to her. They continued to stay together as Gus' skeletons came out of the closet one by one. It turned out that his sister was a madam and his father was a dirty cop who wasn't actually his father. Alan Spaulding was his biological father. He'd had a fling with Phillip's nanny who then gave up the child for adoption. Although this wasn't easy for anyone to take, Gus soon developed some sympathy with Alan when he managed to stop him from jumping off a bridge during one of his delirious episodes. Offering to help Alan, he discovered that Alex had been drugging him and they developed some level of trust. Gus would later come to work at Spaulding for a period after Phillip's mental collapse. However, Gus and Jeffrey began investigating Spaulding's relationship with the Antimonius drug ring. This put a strain on his relationship to Harley and his own family as he tried to balance his silence and keep them all out of jail. Harley demanded that he abandon his family and, refusing, they split up. However, his loyalty to his new found family faltered when he realized how unhinged Phillip had become as he waged war on the Coopers. This reached its peak when Phillip was murdered and Harley stood accused. Gus couldn't stop his feelings from her and relentlessly attempted to prove her innocence in the courtroom while bribing witnesses and threatening Alan. She was convicted anyway, but he didn't stop looking for Phillip's real killer. After being abducted, he escaped and tried to break Harley out of jail but failed. Returning to Alan, he tried to hang the crime on Olivia until it came out that Alan was the culprit.

Reunited when she was freed, Harley and Gus wed and he broke from his family in disgust. Surprisingly, she took over his position at Spaulding and he returned to the police force. He bonded with his half-brother Alan-Michael and attempted to keep Alan from taking over the company. He abducted Alan to force him to confess to the murder before the two of them were abducted by Beth. After a series of double crosses, they each made their way back to Springfield and Gus, suffering from injuries incurred in his captivity, became a drug addict. With pressure from Harley, he managed to kick his habit and devote himself to their family. Once Frank reluctantly allowed him to come back to work under scrutiny, the couple planned for a baby until Gus learned that he had been made sterile by a chemical agent during a job for the FBI. Crushed, he abducted a baby, Sydney, which he and Harley fought to adopt. In the process, they brought Harley's daughter, Daisy, back into the fold, a move which damned the already flawed enterprise. After Sydney was taken away, Gus tried to be the intermediary between Harley and her daughter as they fought. Unfortunately this led to Daisy developing a crush on Gus and pursuing him. This caused a great deal of friction in the family and almost cost Gus his life when Daisy drugged him so that she could take advantage of him and then left a candle to burn, causing the room they were in to catch fire.

Gus' problems with women got more complicated soon. His former high school lover, Natalia, landed in Springfield after Daisy alerted her to his whereabouts in a bid to break he and Harley up. Although this caused tension in his marriage, it wasn't until he discovered that she had been hiding his son, Rafe, from him that things became worse. Though Gus tried to stay devoted to Harley and the boys, he couldn't stay away from Natalia and their son. After sleeping with Natalia, he and Harley broke up and he moved into the Spaulding mansion with her and Rafe. While he tried to build a relationship with them, Alan tried to snag Natalia away by sending Olivia to seduce Gus. This failed and Natalia and Gus were eventually married. Their marriage was compromised, however, by Gus' attempts to help Olivia as she suffered from heart problems. He even spent his honeymoon looking after Olivia rather than with Natalia. He and Natalia pretended to break up so that he could give Olivia some happy time before she died. Secretly, he bought Natalia a house so that they could start a new life together and he began to reconcile with his father. When Olivia vanished from the hospital, he went in search for her on a motorcycle, only to die when it skidded off the road. On his death bed he told Harley that he still loved her. His heart was transplanted to her.

CHILDREN

PICTURES

Harley remains at the church. She goes to the altar and picks up the portrait of Gus. Cyrus helps her take it down. They go over to Company and Harley seems annoyed that the cops are loudly getting drunk inside. Cyrus says Gus must have been wonderful if they are remembering him like this. She thanks him for his help. Blake arrives and hugs her before walking away. "Her husband also died...I mean, not husband," Harley corrects herself. Mallet and Marina poke their heads out and ask her to come in and tell some Gus stories. As she's pulled in, the funeral director grabs Cyrus and tells him that Harley's credit card was declined. Cyrus says that she's busy right now and he'll take care of it. He sends the man away and watches as Harley tells stories to the crowd. She and Marina share some awkward glances and she goes into the washroom. As she talks to herself, Gus appears. He tells her not to be sad. "I always thought it would be us in the end," she cries. Buzz interrupts and she takes another beer as they wander back to the party, stopping to cry on the steps along the way.

Harley finds Cyrus sitting alone outside. She swipes his beer and downs it before asking him to go to a bar somewhere where they don't know anyone. "I wish I could just be numb," she says. "Then you wouldn't be you," he reminds her, telling her that she's been great today and can do anything she sets her mind to. She kisses him and thanks him for reminding her that there is something she can do after all. They go back to her house and start doing construction work. He tells her that it's okay to let him kiss her; it doesn't mean that she's forgotten Gus. He goes to the basement to get nails and she starts to tear down some sheet rock, finding a heart painted behind it. "I'm a romantic, what can I say?" the ghost of Gus tells her. He suggests that finishing the house is a good way to move on. She writes "Harley loves Gus" on the heart before taping over it. Daisy surprises her and offers to help out but Harley asks her to go and do something fun instead. Daisy insists that she wants to help; she thinks Gus would expect it. They comfort each other before Cyrus returns. Daisy asks if the funeral director got in touch with her. Cyrus says that he took care of it. Harley leaves to get the power tools while Daisy tells Cyrus to pack up and leave, reminding him that he will never be Gus. He apologizes for shutting down her fake ID business and agrees to partner up with her. Meanwhile, Harley is upstairs when Gus' spirit surprises her and tells her he has to go. He wants her to promise to finish the house and tells her he will be waiting for her. "I love you y'know," he says before vanishing. She slumps onto the floor.

Harley and Natalia sit at Gus' bedside. "What I really want is a cigarette and a hamburger and a beer and a baseball game," he thinks to himself. Meanwhile, Zach and Jude play baseball in the park while Rafe tries to fix his mother's car. Gus wishes that he'd known his son sooner, and longer, but he'll always love him. Thinking of the chaos at the police station, he realizes how he will miss that as well; he'll even miss Mallet. He will miss Olivia too and, if he'd gotten to know her sooner, maybe they could have been more than friends. He thinks of the house he never finished and hopes that, maybe, Cyrus can finish it...or he'll have to come back to haunt him. And he'll miss Buzz and his daughter and his burgers and his corny jokes... As he slips away, Rick turns to Natalia to tell her how sorry he is. Crying, she kisses Gus goodbye and then calls Harley over. She slowly approaches and kisses him, repeating his name. Natalia goes to meet her son and break the news to him. She doesn't have to say anything. They embrace.